Moroccan football will be without its traditional powerhouses in the CAF Champions League for the first time since 2003, ending a remarkable 22-year run of continuous representation by the country’s biggest clubs.
For the first time in more than two decades, Wydad Athletic Club, Raja Club Athletic, and AS FAR have all failed to qualify for Africa’s premier club competition, marking a significant turning point for one of the continent’s most successful footballing nations asMAS Fès and RS Berkane are representing Morocco in the upcoming 2026/27 CAF Champions League.
Since the early 2000s, at least one of the three clubs had featured in every edition of the CAF Champions League, helping establish Morocco as a dominant force in African club football through sustained success and regular deep runs in the competition.
Wydad and Raja, Casablanca’s fierce rivals, have been among the tournament’s most successful clubs. Wydad have won the CAF Champions League three times, most recently in the 2021/22 season, while Raja have also claimed multiple continental crowns and famously reached the FIFA Club World Cup final in 2013.
AS FAR made history in 1985 by becoming the first Moroccan club to lift Africa’s biggest club trophy, laying the foundation for Morocco’s long-standing influence on the continental stage.
Their simultaneous absence highlights a major shift in the balance of power within Moroccan football, with emerging domestic rivals now taking centre stage while the country’s traditional giants regroup
The development also raises questions about the competitiveness of Morocco’s biggest clubs after years of dominance, as they seek to rebuild and reclaim their places among Africa’s elite.
The upcoming CAF Champions League will therefore begin without three of the competition’s most recognisable names, bringing an end to one of the longest periods of uninterrupted representation by a nation’s traditional heavyweights in African club football.
